Author Tina Donahue scored major points with Wicked Takeover. She managed to hide an empowering message inside a sensual delight. With Dante and Lauren, Ms. Donahue sets to building a legacy of positivity. Lauren and Dante are different, but yet the same. He's a tattoo artist, with an eye for beauty and a body full of art. She's an insecure sweetheart with body image issues and a beautiful soul. Both are outsiders, searching for a place to belong. The beauty of Wicked Takeover is that once the sexy scenarios are cleared away, the underlying message still stands. True beauty shines from within and that's a message that never gets old. ( )

Received an ARC for my fair review for netgalley. Well, did not enjoy it, however the writing was good so I could not give it less stars. We could have really had a great story, and the character could have been developed more if the author would have given them time to get to know each other than just hitting the sheets. ( )

Wicked Takeover by Tina Donahue
Wicked Brand #1

Great introduction to a new series!

Lauren has lost her job, has no family and has inherited a tattoo parlor from a father she has not seen in over 20 years. She has wanted nothing to do with her father but the possibility that the shop might bring income to her depleted accounts is something she cannot ignore. So, off she goes to check out Wicked Brand.

Dante, Van Gogh and Jasmina are the people manning the shop. Van Gogh is a young artist that is able to create masterpieces on skin or off but he is a quiet soul who no doubt has an interesting backstory we do not hear in this book – I do want to hear it. Jasmina is also young, in college and beautiful within and without – I look forward to hearing her love story in the future. Dante is older and almost a father figure to the two younger employees. He is in charge, the manager, deals with just about everything, is paternal in some ways to the younger two and a whole lot more than a tattoo artist – he knew Lauren’s father and has a huge family – one brother joins the tattoo team at the end of this book so my guess is that he will have a book of his own in the future.

As for this story – it is about family and what is truly important in life – is it money or is there more than money that is of greater importance. Well, Lauren is feeling the need for money and Dante is on the other side of that thought so the two bump heads sometimes. Lauren has body image issues and Dante thinks her body is fine – more than fine, in fact. The two spend a lot of time thinking steamy thoughts then eventually acting some of them out. They hit a bump in the road – related to the money – and do manage to work it out to provide a HEA by the end of the book.

I liked the story and would like to thank NetGalley and Entangled Scorched for the ARC – I am eager to read book two in the series – this is my honest review.

4 Stars ( )